Crafting for Boys

[bananasplit]

O.k.  I have 12 nieces and nephews, and a smattering of young cousins.  the girls I've got covered with: jewelry, knit wristlets, hand sewn purses, hats, scarves, etc.  But WHAT DO I MAKE for the BOYS that they won't think is sucky?  They range in age from 5 to 11.

Mothers of boys --- please help me!!!  What do these little aliens boys like that I could make?  any ideas are appreciated.  Thanks in advance.

[dancedupapillon]

For the younger ones, everything from puppets to socks would be great!  Just make it brightly coloured and fun.  Older ones might like simple crocheted or knitted hats (manly colours), fleece blankets, pillowcases, socks, fingerless gloves (think Knitty's Kucks), maybe even personalized pencil cases for those who like to draw.  Ooh! Slippers would probably go across well for any age!

[joyfulheart]

I have 3 boys, 5 nephews all age 4 to 9.  LOL

Homemade stuff?

They like blankets, Totebags with their name (or favorite superhero) on it, Organizing Boxes (like men use in the garage) for all their trinkets  (you could personalize it)

Another idea is giving them a disposable camera, and a small scrapbook to put their developed pictures in.  You could get crafty to personalize it for them.  All boys love photography no matter the age!

[BlueCherryFaerie]

My son is really into transformers right now.  You could make some hats, pillows, scarves with the autobots and/or decepticons emblem on them.  My boys also love pirates, aliens, robots, space and would love anything with these themes on them.

Totebags for library books.
Overnight bags for spending the night away from home, include matching toiletry bag.
Sleeping bag
Pillow sham
Quilt
Pirate Flags
Cd wallets
video game cartridge wallets if they have a portable video game system you could make a matching carrier for the game as well
wallets for the older kiddos

[kacarrol]

There are some great ideas that would in this thread.

[skyyblue]

Hi there!
I'm a mom of 3 boys (7, 10 & 13) Aunt to 3 more and "Aunt" to 6 more. plus there is my 4th kid-DH hehehe..so  ummm...

Those fleece blankets that you tie the sides (way easy & quick) and with the choices of fleece out there almost anyone's interests are covered. My 13 yo now wants another one cuz he's had a major growth spurt and his old one just isn't long enough.

If the boys have PSPs, DSs or even like Leapster you can always whip up a cover with their interests/names on them. This works for CD players and mp3 players as well Either knit or felt, fleece. pretty straight forward And with the felt if you don't want to sew-3 words "RedLine Tape Rocks"!!

And going the knit route: scarves, hats, gloves, balls toys-many many patterns on our beloved craftster as well as ravelry and out in the internet cosmos just browse and be in awe of all that can be made with yarn, needles and imagination! Oh and Bernat has Camoflage yarn in a couple of colorways...my middle son has a hat and a messenger bag/overnight bag in the blue.

You can get canvases for cheap and paint door signs with their favorite stuff and name for their bedrooms. Or even easier just paint those pre-made letters, attatch them together and attach a hanger.

Another artsy gift (ok it with parents first) paint a mural for them. If you're not another Rembrandt an easy trick is to print out what you would like to do on a transparency and use an over-head projector (a lot of times you can borrow one from your library or if you know someone in your school system they may lend one out too).Trace the transparency on the wall very lightly with pencil and voila it's a paint-by-numbers! I did this for a friend because they wanted to get one of those Disney doors from Home Depot but just couldn't swing the cost. My "nephew" was thrilled to see that when he came back from preschool and went to his room he was surprised to see  Lightning McQueen and Tater were staring back at him !

Boys generally like anything with their names on it as well as cars, trucks, trains, planes, dinos, sports, pirates(nowadays),anything girls think are gross  and anything that is like them-always on the go. If you incorporate their favorite colors then all the better. Just make sure its heavy-duty (well face it-indestructible) cuz the intended purpose may not always be the eventual use of the object 

Being a mom to boys just makes you think in an entirely new way especially if you only had 1 sister and 3 girl cousins growing up. They may be alien at times but you rarely have a dull moment Wouldn't trade it for the world lol

[OrangeAngel23]

Worse comes to worse, you can always make hats and scarves and hand bags, or something like that.

[meriweather]

My guys loved any thing dinosaur. My gs is into bugs, you can make a cute Bug Cage with that plastic canvas stuff, and some bits of felt.
DIY art kits. My guys liked pom pom, pipecleaners, google eyes etc.

[nykole6412]

what about soaps with their fave themed toys in them?

[stressedoutmamax3]

I have boys who are 10, 8 and almost 2... I also have 5 and 2 year old nephews.

Last Christmas I crocheted a checkerboard for my oldest... in the past I've also made him a star afghan, a messenger bag and some funky hats.